Numbers 7

₁When Moses finished putting up the tent of the Lord, he anointed the tent and all the tools with the tent and he consecrated it. He also did this with the altar and the altar's tools. ₂Then the leaders_of_Israel brought their gifts. They were the leaders of the families who had to see that the names of the Israelites were written in the book. ₃The leaders brought their gifts to the Lord. There were 6 wagons and 12 oxen, a wagon for every 2 tribe leaders and an ox for each leader. They brought them all to the tent of the Lord ₄and the Lord said to Moses: ₅‘You must take the wagons and oxen and you must give them to the Levites to use for the work they have to do with the tent where I appear to the Israelites. Each family must use them for the work that they have to do.’

₆Moses took the wagons and oxen and he gave them to the Levites. ₇He gave the Gershon family 2 wagons and 4 oxen for the work they had to do. ₈He gave the Merari family 4 wagons and 8 oxen for the work they had to do. Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest, had to see that they did the work. ₉Moses did not give wagons and oxen to the Kohath family, because they had to work with the holy things, and they had to carry them on their shoulders.

₁₀After Moses anointed the altar, the other leaders of the tribes also brought gifts. They brought the gifts to the altar to consecrate it ₁₁and the Lord said to Moses: ‘One of the leaders must bring gifts every day to consecrate the altar. The leaders must do this for 12 days.’

_12-83Each leader brought his gifts on one of the 12 days. The leaders were: Nahshon, son of Amminadab, from the Judah tribe, Nethanel, son of Zuar, leader of the Issachar tribe, Eliab, son of Helon, leader of the Zebulun tribe, Elizur, son of Shedeur, leader of the Reuben tribe, Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, leader of the Simeon tribe, Eliasaph, son of Deuel, leader of the Gad tribe, Elishama, son of Ammihud, leader of the Ephraim tribe, Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, leader of the Manasseh tribe, Abidan, son of Gideoni, leader of the Benjamin tribe, Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, leader of the Dan tribe, Pagiel, son of Okran, leader of the Asher tribe, Ahira, son of Enan, leader of the Naphtali tribe.

The gifts that each leader brought were a silver plate that weighed 130 temple-shekels, a silver bowl that weighed 70 temple-shekels, both full of the best flour that they had mixed with olive oil, which was a grain-offering. They also gave a golden bowl that weighed 10 shekels and was full of incense, a bull, a sheep ram and a lamb that was one-year-old, which was the burnt-offering, a goat-ram, which was the sin-offering. They gave 2 oxen, 5 sheep rams, 5 goat-rams and 5 lambs that were one-year-old, which was the meal-offering. These were the gifts that each leader gave.

₈₄The leaders_of_Israel gave these gifts to consecrate the altar after Moses had anointed it. All of the gifts were: 12 silver plates, 12 silver bowls and 12 gold plates. ₈₅Each plate weighed 130 shekels and each silver bowl weighed 70 shekels. All of the silver weighed 2 400 temple-shekels.

₈₆The 12 golden bowls full of incense weighed 10 temple-shekels each. All the golden bowls weighed 120 temple-shekels. ₈₇The leaders also gave animals for burnt-offerings. The animals were 12 bulls, 12 sheep rams, and 12 lambs that were one-year-old. They gave the animals with the grain-offerings. There were also 12 goat-rams for the sin-offerings. ₈₈The animals that the leaders gave for the meal-offerings were 24 bulls, 60 sheep rams, 60 goat-rams and 60 lambs that were one-year-old. These were the offerings to consecrate the altar after Moses had anointed it.

₈₉When Moses wanted to talk to the Lord, he went into the tent where the Lord appeared to the Israelites and then he heard the Lord talking to him from above the lid on the covenant box in which the 10 commandments were. The Lord talked to him from between the 2 cherub-angels.